Virtual Prototyping in Telecommunications. Issues and Solutions

For the last several years the frequency in telecommunications increased over GHz range. Such frequencies came with side effects such as crosstalk, overshot, undershoot, timing issues. The designing process had to implement new ideas, parts, components and processing capabilities. The DDR (double data-rate) memories are used extensively. The latest families, DDR3, DDR4 pushed the technological boundaries to the point where the hardware and software work together to keep under control the high-speed issues mentioned above. The most important thing is that the human must be assisted by the machine to settle the constraints the projects should comply with to fulfill the requirements. Specialized tools have been developed to improve the equipment quality, the time to market and the redesigning process. Mentor Graphics HyperLynx, with both approaches (pre and post layout) is the solution we propose to solve the DDR timing issues. In the current paper, the DDR memory analysis tool's capability and results are presented. The wizard assisting the designer, the power of calculation and the results confirm the value of HyperLynx solution developed by the Mentor Graphics company, in virtual prototyping.